Storytime
by Doggieboy80
Summary: An AU fic in which Daria tells the children a story about a superhero. The hero? A Ringbearer named Beavis. A Daylight/Tales of the Ringbearers fic.


Author's Note: _Daria_ and all of its characters are the property of MTV/Viacom. This is fanfiction and no money was exchanged for this story. It is non-profit and written for fun. In reading this story, it helps to know of the characters and romances that were shown in the story _Apocalyptic Daria._

**Storytime**

**  
****A DAYLIGHT short fanfic**

**by Doggieboy80**

**********

"Gather around, children, and I'll tell you a story."

The children, ranging in age from two to ten, sat around Daria Peters as she sat comfortably in the recliner.

"What's the story about, Aunt Daria?" little Jennifer asked.

Daria smiled at the little raven-haired girl. She always liked it when Jane's daughter called her 'Aunt'. Of course, so did Trent's two step-children by the former Pam Garrett. _If they hadn't met at that bar when her car broke down_... "This story is about a Ringbearer who was named Beavis," she began.

Six-year-old Little Jane perked up and pushed the bridge of her glasses up her nose. "Mom, is this the Beavis you told me about...the one from Highland?"

Daria looked down at her daughter and smiled briefly. "Not quite. This Beavis is from an alternate world and was moral enough to wear a Defender Ring."

The young girl brushed her auburn hair back and said, "I was about to say something, Mom. You always told me that Beavis was a dumb son of a--"

"Jane!" A newspaper dropped and Martin Peters looked over the top of it at her, his gaze a warning.

"Sorry, Dad."

Daria gave Martin a brief wink, and he responded by smiling; then he raised the paper back up. "As I was saying, this Beavis was a Ringbearer who happened to be on an Earth where he became a hero. He was on a trial assignment as a Pathfinder and had just found an undiscovered Earth when his ring warned him of danger - one he had never faced before, or even heard of."

"Ohhhh!" several of the children said in unison.

"What danger was it, Aunt Daria?" Amber Garrett asked.

"A Coronal Mass Ejection," she said, then quickly added, "the sun got a whole lot brighter, hotter and dangerous."

Baby Monique looked up from her teddy bear, smiled at Daria, then looked back down at the toy.

"Beavis didn't really understand what was happening, but he knew that if the Ring warned him of the danger to himself, then it would be even more dangerous for the people of that Earth. He was ordered by the Ringmasters to leave that world, but for reasons no one knew, he refused and tried to stop it."

Little Jane frowned and thought briefly for several seconds as the other children moved around. "Mom, that's impossible," she said. "I remember the other Ringbearer stories you told me, and the Ringmasters could have brought him back to Nova Valdris against his will. Besides, one Ringbearer couldn't stop a CME by himself."

Daria smiled cryptically at her daughter and replied, "This Beavis was also as dumb as a box of rocks. As it happened, by the time the Ringmasters realized that he had disobeyed them, it was too late. He was in the thick of it, so to speak. He tried to use his Ring to first block, then absorb the effects of the CME."

"What happened?" her daughter asked.

"He died," Daria said, "but as a result of his actions, he shielded a big part of the world in question for more than a day. The authorities on that world realized that someone - some 'superman' of some sort - was trying to save them. They also realized that the hero in question would eventually fail. But he gave them enough time to rescue millions of people, as well as animals in zoos and farms and --"

"Such as kitties?" John Jacob Peters asked from beside Jane. He held his cat, Whiskers, in his arms. The cat, however, looked befuddled and waited for a chance to escape.

"Yes, John, such as kitties. Now let Whiskers go, O.K.?"

The four-year-old boy obeyed his mother and the cat ran off.

Daria cleared her throat and continued, "Eventually, the sun went back to normal. But because of Beavis the Ringbearer, the world was able to return to normal fairly quickly. A lot of people died, but because of Beavis, many other millions survived and they made statues of him, all with the same inscription."

"What did it say?" all the children asked - even Little Jane.

"'On Fire Day, one man stood above the rest and used his powers to save his home at the cost of his own life. We will always honor the stranger we only know as The Ring Man.'"_  
_

Several minutes after the children left the living room, Daria sat next to Martin on the couch and laid her head on his upper left arm.

"Do you think you should have told them that tale?" he asked as he laid his left hand on her right thigh.

"That's what you said about _Apocalyptic Daria _when I read it to them," she said, a smirk on her face.

"That's because that tale is for mature audiences, dear," he said.

"I edited the bad parts as I read it and you know it." She turned, moved her mouth to his left ear and nibbled on his ear lobe. "I want to have a private conversation with you."

He smiled and looked at his wife. "We have six children in the house," he said, "not to mention a sleeping lead singer of a band."

Daria returned his smile and said, "I told Little Jane to put on the Heidi DVD. They're all watching it now."

Martin set down the paper and they stood up. "I seem to remember that Beavis the Ringbearer is still alive. How can that be if he died saving an Earth?"

Daria chuckled and said, "There's more than one Ringbearer Beavis."

Martin remembered his meeting with Daria's former classmates from Highland and shuddered at the possibility of such nutjobs with Defender Rings.

They left the living room, arm in arm.

--FINIS--

Author's Notes: This story not only fits in the Daylight category, but also as one of the Tales of the Ringbearers. Thanks for reading.


End file.
